The next day, when Li Xue woke up by the sounds of the birds singing, she erupted like a wicked person from her bed and screamed as much as she could.

The servants that stood behind the doors, started to shiver because of scaredness, they didn't know what awaited them. One second Li Xue is a good girl but the next second she can be eviler than the Lady of the Manor herself.

The maids came into Xue's room and started to wash her face and dress her, after she was done, Li Xue stormed out of her room and went to the main manor, where her parents were residing.

She slammed the door open with her leg, "Where is that bitch!'' Xue shouted.

Her father, who was sitting down, wrote on the papers that concluded the matters of the Manor, "Daughter, what is this unfilial behavior,"' he replied in a furious tone.

''I am asking for your woman, the witch of the manor call her right now,'' she crossed her arms and stood at the doorway.

''Have you forgotten respect, Li Xue.'' Rage boiled through his body, Father slapped Li Xue across the face and her head snapped to the side, a bright hand mark started showing on her cheek.

''Seems like she turned you blind, Dad.'' Xue's eyes welled up, the betrayal she felt was immense as if her world crushed down and the heavy rocks hit her body bit by bit.

With her last words Li Xue stormed outside, she couldn't catch her breath from the sadness that was engraved in her heart. There was a father who wouldn't even try to listen to her as if she was a disease.

And, who could have imagined that her Step-Mother planned from the beginning to smear Xue's reputation, to make the Head Eunuch rape her. She should know better how it feels because she is a woman too. But, who could have thought... Tears that stung rolled down her cheeks.

''Bai Zheng, do you want to come with me?'' she asked Bai Zheng through telepathy since he was on the other side of the manor having his lunch with the other workers.

''Where are you going?'' he asked.

Xue gave a deep sigh and looked far away, ''I don't know, where the road takes me, there I will be.''

Before she prepared to escape from the manor she prepared numerous gifts that were so splendid for her stepmother that she couldn't even imagine, and they are a bed filled with infinite needles, Xue even changed her make up products with deleterious products that cause eczema and scars, a room with and manor surrounded by the animals that release deadly smells, which were called skunks and her private pool filled with snakes.

Li Xue stood up proud with unimaginable pleasure as a result of her achievements, without a doubt they were the most memorable and witty action that she did. ''That's on consequences,'' Li Xue giggled.

Being satisfied with her work, she decided that it was enough action and it was time to go, so she and Bai Zheng disguised themselves as commoners and bought a carriage to go to a faraway city in the north, which was questioningly famous and prosperous land. And like that Li Xue left the manor for forever.

***

Melancholy descended over Li Xue with the grey clouds that lingered in the sky. The scenery which Li Xue looked through the worn-out windows seemed dull and lackluster. But then again, she didn't want to spend her day locked off in the room. She imagined herself in a dark room with her arms wrapped around her knees. The thought of it almost recalled bad memories, she shuddered.

She slapped herself in the face, in order to wake up from those destructive feelings but the room didn't help much as it made it suffocate her. What happened already happened, Li Xue decided to not procrastinate any longer or she would go crazy before she returns back to her world.

''Let's go, take a breath outside little Zheng,'' Xue patted him on the shoulder.

The wind made the tree branches sway and blew a cloud of dust into Bai Zheng's face. ''Such a bad weather,'' he scoffed.

''Still, that is not going to prevent our fancy adventure,'' Li Xue addressed with a playful smile.

The giggles of the children were like music to the ears, they played on the streets without worries. They took the might of the wind to help them achieve their goals and they threw their straws, each marked by the owner and then later measured whose went the furthest.

They may seem carefree, but near them stood their parents to monitor them, while they bought the groceries. There was a carnival and the city was filled with stalls that waited to be sold out, all the products were cheaper compared to their earlier price so that day was very busy.

As Li Xue walked along with Bai Zheng she spotted a prepossessed restaurant that got her attention, they went in and were welcomed by a male host. ''Welcome masters, you are the lucky couple that won a free lunch by us. I will lead you to your table,'' he bowed.

Xue raised her brow in confusion, ''Oh, we got the bingo!'' she cheered, ''Alright, show us the way.'' Their host showed them to a fancy table adorned by embellishments, the table was located in the best spot on the second floor.

''Masters, what shall I bring for you?'' the host asked politely.

''Zheng Zheng you know better, you can order,'' Li Xue said. She did not want to embarrass herself as she did not know what is common in that era or did they invent the food or not yet.

Bai Zheng didn't hold back, he ordered braised chicken along with pecking duck and fish, some mashed potatoes with caramelized onions as a flavored side dish, parboiled rice, soya bean, and other vegetables in company with drinks.

The food was absolutely delicious, Xue loved the tender rice and the juicy crispy meat, the drink was so refreshing it was the pinnacle of the lunch. As they finished the food, they ordered a tea for a finish and rested. But, at that moment a noisy customer came and interrupted their peaceful time.

''Why is my table occupied, clean it right now!'' a middle-aged man yelled as he looked in the direction of where Li Xue and Bai Zheng were sitting.

The host bowed while sweat dripped on his forehead, ''I am sorry sir but we have customers using it.''

He slammed his hand on the table, ''I don't care, kick them out,''' the man was seething with anger.

He raised a ruckus in the restaurant, everyone was talking and murmuring about how cocky the man is that no one can stand up to him, due to his power with the higher-ups. Right, that moment the manager came in a hurry and bowed to the man, ''I am sorry, Master. I will clean the table right away,'' the manager said while his arms were trembling.

''I am utterly sorry, but please can you leave the table,'' The manager begged with teary eyes.

Bai Zheng scratched his nose, ''Why should we.'' He was even angrier than the old man but Li Xue slapped him to shush down.

The manager got close to them and whispered, ''He will kill us all.''

''Come let's go,'' Li Xue got up and stretched her arms up, she got the hang of the situation and didn't want any more trouble, she was too tired to fight off with the sadistic men. Maybe next time, was all she thought.

''Hey Li Xue why not,'' Bai Zheng questioned.

''Some other time please, I am tired, we had our lunch and that is all that matters,'' she replied.

They got up and went outside, but when they passed by the old man Li Xue undid her ponytail and tossed her hair on his face as if she was trying to fix her ponytail. Got you right, humph; she thought and disappeared from sight.

The man got so furious he shouted and kicked everything that was in front of him, he grabbed a chair and slammed it on his servant, ''This bitch.''

Li Xue sneezed,'' Looks like someone is mentioning me,'' she laughed mockingly, she could guess who was the person.

The city journey was coming to an end, Zheng and Xue were walking back towards their newly bought room in the inn that provided the best accommodation. They were fine with sleeping in one room as they can protect each other and they were already used to it, maybe due to the mark that Li Xue had in her heart.

It was that time of the autumn that the leaves would fall off the tee branches and dust swipe on the roads from the wind, rainy season was the most at this time and it was fairly cold.

Sometimes Li Xue would sneak in Zheng's bed to get warmer as she was the lover of the extreme heat and sneak out when it was early morning so he wouldn't notice, but little did she know that Bai Zheng didn't get even a little of sleep because of her bashful actions that got him blushing like a teenager.

Rain droplets started to carelessly fall on Xue's shoulders, the sound on the stalls soon became a pitter-patter. People hurried to their homes and the sellers closed off their business, they started to gather their products so they won't get spoiled by the rain. Puddles began plinking as the rainfall became heavier.

In a corner, Li Xue notices a young boy stealing from a stall but soon he got caught by a huge built man that was other from the seller, and drags him by the hair with so much force on the ground without a reason, the boy only stole a bread. Li Xue thought that it was such a shady behavior but didn't think much of it, maybe he was like a police guarding the shops or something.

When the man left with the boy, a kid that was in front of her started to weep on his knees, ''My brother,'' he yammered, sniffling between his cries. The boy seemed so hopeless and weak that it broke Xue's heart, she went to him and patted him on the back. ''I will bring him back,'' she reassured.

''No you can't,'' the boy replied without hesitation.

''When I say I will and I promise that I will do that,'' Xue responded.

He grabbed her hands with his little hands and uttered with a frail tone, ''Miss, he is already dead. Don't get yourself killed too...'' He looked at her in the eyes.

The boy stood up, whipped his nose, and explained the situation, ''He was like our big brother, protecting us from the bad men and bringing us food.'' The boy knew that it was now or never, maybe the people would help them but it was worth a try, something in his heart made him believe that.

''Which bad guys, why is he already dead when we just saw him?'' Bai Zheng questioned.

For Li Xue the whole situation was weird for her, it did not make sense how the young child is so demoralized, she had so many questions that she wanted to ask the little boy but she didn't want to make it tough for him and strain him by asking such stressful questions.

The boy paled and started to shiver, ''The bad men target us who have no parents, we are homeless and hungry,'' he stopped talking because he couldn't catch his breath, he was mixing up his words to tell them everything at the same time.

''We have to steal food but at that moment they appear and kill those who they caught. They know we have no one to support us, to stand up for us, that's why they do this evil thing,'' he sobbed sorrowfully.

''How do you know that they kill them?'' Zheng scrunched up his face.

''Because we never see them again,'' the boy answered.